RoHs, REACH, Dodd-Frank and WEEE compliance

We often get asked about our compliance to RoHS, Reach & WEEE. What are they and what do we need to comply with ?

WEEE

A nice and easy one: The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations apply if you sell electrical and electronic equipment: You must provide a way for your customers to dispose of their old household electrical and electronic equipment when you sell them a new version of the same item. To find out more, go to the gov.uk WEEE guidelines.

Dodd-Frank

This is an American Consumer Protection Act that addresses the international trade and use of Conflict Minerals. Conflict Minerals are mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses, to generate revenue for armed groups. For more information, there's a Fact Sheet on the sec.gov site. The gov.uk site provides more information on the UK stance on conflict minerals.

These minerals are really only used in smelting activities and the plastic moulding polymers we use do not contain conflict minerals.

RoHS

This stands for Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). This legislation bans the placing on the EU market of new EEE containing more than the agreed levels of:

lead (Pb)

cadmium (Cd)

mercury (Hg)

hexavalent chromium (Cr6+)

polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)

polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)

If you manufacture, import or distribute Electrical and Electronic Equipment you have a range of responsibilities. Again the gov.uk website provides a handy list of obligations. We frequently manufacture parts for electrical and electronic goods and our materials suppliers provide confirmation of RoHS compliance with all materials we buy.

REACH

This is a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of CHemicals. REACH applies to substances manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year. You can find out all information you need on the REACH pages of the HSE website.

Within the plastics inductry, the onus falls on polymer manufacturers to register their product and provide clear information about any hazardous properties of a substance. We buy all of our materials from within the EU and as such, they're REACH compliant as standard. We have copies of the required Safety Data Sheet for all polymers we use and we're happy to supply those on request.